Category: Games

By Jesse Schedeen

DC is expanding its comic book lineup again in 2018. Today the publisher revealed first details about DC Black Label, a new line that will feature top-name creators crafting unique, standalone takes on characters like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. The line will be overseen by executive editor Mark Doyle and feature creators like Frank Miller, Scott Snyder and Kelly Sue DeConnick.

DC is already drawing comparisons between Black Label and classic graphic novels like Batman: The Killing Joke and Watchmen. The goal is for creators to leave their personal stamp on these iconic characters and tell accessible, “edgy” stories set outside of mainline DC continuity. Each project will follow its own publishing format and schedule based on what best serves the story in question, meaning that we’ll probably see a mix of traditional miniseries, prestige format limited series and graphic novels.

So far, DC has revealed six books that will comprise the “first wave” of DC Black Label.

Previously announced at SDCC last summer, this story reunites writer Frank Miller and artist John Romita Jr. for a new take on Superman’s origin story and early days on the job.

This series will again pair writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo for an epic Batman adventure. This time, Batman wakes up in a strange, dystopian future with only Joker’s head in a jar for company. Last Knight on Earth is is being billed as “the last Batman story ever told.”

The series was first teased at NYCC last fall, though at the time it was said to be a collaboration between Snyder and Batman: White Knight artist Sean Gordon Murphy instead.

This horror-flavored book will be the latest Batman collaboration between writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo, who previously worked on Batman/Deathblow and the graphic novel Joker together. Damned opens with the apparent murder of Joker, forcing Batman to team up with John Constantine to hunt down a supernatural killer who may be even worse than the Clown Prince of Crime.

Wonder Woman: Historia

Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick is tackling her first major DC project alongside veteran Wonder Woman artist Phil Jimenez. Historia is “a Homeric epic” that explores the untold history of the Amazons and Queen Hippolyta’s reign. Broken into three books, Historia will cover the timeline from the birth of the Amazons to the day Steve Trevor arrived on Paradise Island.

Wonder Woman: Diana’s Daughter

Diana’s Daughter (which is currently a working title) will see writer Greg Rucka return to the franchise he helped overhaul in DC Rebirth. This series is set 20 year’s after Wonder Woman’s mysterious disappearance, with a new heroine rising up to claim the mantle and offer hope to the world. No artist has been revealed yet.

The Other History of the DC Universe

Previously revealed at the “DC in DC” event in January, this series from 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley will reexamine key moments in DCU history through the perspective of minority heroes like John Stewart, Vixen, Katana, Renee Montoya and others. No artist has been revealed yet.

“Many of our perennially best-selling, critically acclaimed books were produced when we unleashed our top talent on standalone, often out-of-continuity projects featuring our most iconic characters, a prime example being Frank Miller’s THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS,” said DC publisher Jim Lee in a statement. “Creating DC Black Label doubles down on our commitment to working with all-star talent and trusting them to tell epic, moving stories that only they can tell with the highest levels of creative freedom.”

Expect more details about DC Black Label to surface in the months ahead. For now, let us know what you think of DC’s latest imprint in the comments below.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

This year’s MLB The Show 18 includes some cool new features like custom batting stances, rain delays, and three-inning games. But what’s new for the game’s iconic Road to the Show mode? Developer Sony San Diego stopped by the GameSpot offices recently to show off the RPG-like mode where you build a character and take them through the ranks to the big leagues.

As you’ll see in the video, one big part of what’s new this year is that you do not start off as a highly touted player. Instead, you’re a later-round draft pick who has more to prove. Also new this year how you’ll start Road to the Show–by choosing an archetype. One example is “Wizard,” which is someone who is speedy and good on defense, but lacks power at the plate.

Community manager Ramone Russell also walks us through some more specific changes, including how you can no longer be a 99 in every category. This is a move towards further realism, as some players may just never be able to max out in a certain part of their game. We also learned that former MLB player Mark DeRosa joins the commentating lineup this year.

What’s also new for Road to the Show this year is something that’s not there: microtransactions. Sony has completely removed them. It is unclear if this move comes as a reaction to the industry-wide conversation happening about mictotransactions or something Sony had been planning on its own.

Whatever the case, microtransactions are not completely removed from MLB The Show 18. Sony is expected to continue to allow players to buy Stubs for real money in the game’s Ultimate Team-like Diamond Dynasty mode. Sony has been doing this for many years now.

We spent more than 30 minutes talking to Russell about MLB The Show 18’s new Road to the Show mode, so be sure to watch the full video to get all the details. MLB The Show 18 launches on March 27 for PlayStation 4; pre-ordering lets you play starting on March 23.

President Trump will meet with representatives from the video game industry and members of Congress tomorrow, March 8, to discuss video games in the wake of the Parkland, Florida high school shooting. Speaking today during the White House Press Briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump is looking forward to the event as part of an effort to help keep schools safe.

“The president wants to continue the conversation on every different area that we can to help promote school safety,” she said. “I’m not going to get ahead of the discussion that they’re going to have tomorrow but we think it is an important discussion to have and one that the President looks forward to.”

Pressed about whether or not Trump believes video games are too violent, Sanders said she , “It certainly is something that should be looked at and something that we want to have the conversation about.” The video game segment starts at around 12:25 in the video above.

The ESA, which lobbies for video games and organizes E3 every year, is attending the meeting with Trump at the White House. The organization is one of the biggest and most powerful gaming groups in America, and its members include companies like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, and others. According to Kotaku’s sources, the meeting has “remained unorganized” since it was announced last week. When Sanders first announced that Trump would meet with people from the video game industry, the ESA said it had not received an invite. But earlier this week, the ESA confirmed that it will attend the meeting to discuss video games, the industry’s established ratings systems, and other pertinent information. The ESA is expected to defend video games and point out that studies have shown there is no link between violent video games and violent behavior.

Trump’s bother, Robert Trump, sits on the board of directors at Zenimax, which owns Fallout and Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda. Leslie Moonves, the president of GameSpot parent company CBS, is also a member of Zenimax’s board of directors. According to Kotaku, Robert Trump will attend the White House meeting. The Washington Post reported today that ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman will also attend the meeting, as will Take-Two president Strauss Zelnick. Michael Gallagher, the CEO of the ESA, will also reportedly attend. On the other side, Parents Television Council founder Brent Bozell and Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) will be there, the Post reported. Following the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, both urged the government to look at violent media instead of gun restrictions alone.

Additionally, Trump invited Martha Roby (R-AL) to the meeting on Thursday. The Post added that Trump also asked Republican Senator Marco Rubio to come, but he couldn’t make it due to a scheduling conflict. It is unclear if Trump invited any Democrats to the meeting.

“As we continue to work towards creating school safety programs that protect all children, the president will be meeting with video game industry leaders and Members of Congress to discuss violent video-game exposure and the correlation to aggression and desensitization in children,” a White House spokesperson told The Washington Post. “This meeting will be the first of many with industry leaders to discuss this important issue.”

Trump is the not first US President to question whether or not video games have a role to play in the development of young minds. In 2013, following the Sandy Hook shooting, Barack Obama called on Congress to fund research on the relationship between video games and violent behavior.

There is no word yet about if the meeting will be televised, if reporters will be able to sit in, or if the White House will share the notes from the meeting. The meeting will take place in the Roosevelt Room, starting at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET. We will report back with more details as they become available.

After the Parkland shooting, Trump hosted a meeting at the White House to discuss school safety, and among the subjects that came up were the level of violence in video games and movies. In his White House meeting in February, Trump said he has heard from “more and more people” that “the level of violence in video games is really shaping young people’s thoughts.”

This won’t be the first time the ESA has attended a meeting at the White House regarding video games. Following the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, then-Vice President Joe Biden met with members of the video game industry executives such as then-EA CEO John Riccitiello to discuss the link between violent video games and gun violence as part of a wider task force into gun control measures. Gallagher, the ESA president, was also at this meeting.